Etymograph

English

craton

Craton comes from Ancient Greek κράτος ‘strength, might’, and goes back to Proto-Indo-European *kret-.

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kret-1‘strength’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krét-os1reconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκράτος2krátos‘strength, might’
  4. Englishtodaycraton2

attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed deepest recorded ancestor

  1. 1 Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κράτος
  2. 2 Wiktionary, English craton

Lineage

  1. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*kret-Wiktionary, Ancient Greek κράτος‘strength’reconstructed
  2. Proto-Indo-Europeanc. 4500–2500 BCE*krét-osWiktionary, Ancient Greek κράτοςreconstructed
  3. Ancient Greekc. 800–300 BCEκράτοςWiktionary, English cratonkrátos‘strength, might’
  4. EnglishtodaycratonWiktionary, English craton

The story

Shortened from original cratogen which was analogical to orogen.

Full etymology on Wiktionary

Linked words

through Proto-Indo-European *kret- ‘strength’

hard, rather, 44 more

through Proto-Indo-European *krét-os

bureaucracy, bureaucratic, bureaucrat, 33 more

through Ancient Greek κράτος ‘strength, might’

aristocracy, 6 more

Today it means

noun A part of the Earth’s crust that has survived the splitting and merging of continents.

Sources

Sources: Wiktionary, “craton”; the older steps come from the Wiktionary entry for Ancient Greek κράτος. By Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0, via kaikki.org (dump of Oct 3 2026); text adapted and restructured. Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word. License.

Etymograph / Proto-Indo-European *kret- / craton

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